Breakfast is Served.....

Today I cooked up a little stew of beef, potatoes, carrots and zucchini for the dogs, and mixed it with some kibble for their breakfast. Spoiled dogs here, yes I know, but let's not go there! I live to serve.

I served up everyone's bowls and distributed food in their usual eating places. Beagles in the kitchen, Honcho in the spare bathroom, Toby in his crate, and Jewel in her bedroom (Rowan and Catie are in Canada today). Sidenote: Isolating everyone when they eat keeps the food stealing and resulting dog arguments to a minimum.

About 30 seconds after putting Jewel's food down and closing her in her room to eat, she starts barking……the same bark she uses when she has the cat cornered, or small animal (mouse, etc) trapped. RrrrrrrrRUFF!......rrrrrrrrrRUFF! What in the world? So I open her door to see what's up, and she is standing over her food bowl, ears at full prick and really pissed off; barking at her food bowl. A mouthful of half chewed potato is spit out on the floor. RrrrrrrrRUFF! Rrrrrrruff! Over, and over, again.

Apparently, I served breakfast a tad too warm for the Princess's liking.

She's been barking at it for a full five minutes now, mad that it won't let her eat it and that it "bit" her back. She stops every 30 seconds to taste it, then starts barking again if it's not just exactly the right temperature. Okay, now finally she's stopped barking, it must be at the perfect temp.

Sometimes, not soooooo smart. (Jewel, not me, but I'm sure she would beg to differ).

Jewel's Wins at Rarities Shows

Twice a year (three at most), the North American Kennel Club (previously known as Rarities Dog Shows), comes to the Northwest. This is one of the only venues where Silkens can be shown, since they are a rare breed and not recognized by the AKC.
Our Baby Jewel went Best of Breed then Reserve Best in Show in one show, then Best of Winners in a second show, earning two 5-point majors. She pranced around the ring and seemed to be having a great time all day, even looking over her shoulder before starting to go to smile at the judge. What a pill. Photo coming soon!

Jewel's Bounty

I went in to take a bath at lunch today (work at home), and as soon as I shut off the water and laid back to relax for a few minutes, Jewel our little Silken Windhound starts barking in the kitchen. I holler at her, but every 30 seconds or so she lets out another bark. SIGH.

No relaxing bath today! It's like the same type of bark like when she has the cat trapped in a corner and wants it to come out and play. Or, when she has a really good chewie and is warning everyone off. Actually, it turns out to be something about the size of the cat, and edible so the message in the bark I heard was not too far off.

So, I get out of the tub and notice that all our other dogs (3 borzoi, 1 silken and 3 beagles) are all in the bedroom looking in at me like they're saying with their eyes, "We're staying in HERE, the Jewel's gone psycho!".

I get dressed and come into the kitchen to find:

1) The refrigerator door hanging wide open
2) Jewel standing over a turkey carcass (from a turkey I roasted the other night) in the middle of the kitchen floor, barking at any dog she sees, in any direction. Too busy barking to eat much, but I notice that all the white breast meat is chewed down to the rib cage.

Thankfully she was acting psycho and keeping them all away from the kitchen.....if not, a whole lot of stuff in the fridge would have gone away in the feeding frenzy that would have most likely ensued with everyone. I figure a Beagle yanked open the door and hauled the turkey on the floor, and Miss Jewel took over from there and chased them all away to guard the bounty for herself.

Jewel blissfully slept the rest of the afternoon away, no doubt on a tryptophan high from all the turkey she ate.

No Charm the Third Time

For the third time in four days, I took the Silken puppy to the vet. I did not luck out this time as I'd hoped. Poor little guy fared as well as the first two times (poop, nausea, foaming at the mouth) -- however, he now has his health certificate! And, a remedy from the Veterinarian for his motion sickness that should help the little guy out on his trip to his new home this week.

All I can say is.....when Karen and I go to Cancun and the Mexican Carribbean in November, all my drinks are on her. All of them.

The puppies really aren't monsters, they're very sweet and adorable. Just scared little babies going out in the world and trying to find their way, and finding it a little overwhelming at this point.

In about an hour Paul & Karen will be home from their fabulous cruise, and tomorrow I'll be headed home. Yes, I would do it again....in about a year. It's good practice and hands-on experience for someday when we might decide to breed a litter. (God help me!) I can't say I wasn't warned if we go that route some day.

Meanwhile....., it's Happy Trails home in the morning!

That's What Friends Are For

Claudia, Jackie and Linda - all with their hounds -- came over and we had a little party at Allagante.	The people ate, drank and made merry (Linda, Claudia, Me -- Jackie not pictured):
The puppies played and kept us entertained. Here's Claudia's Borzoi, Wings, and Jackie's Silken Kamiah:	Many of the Silkens playing together in the field (Mikey in the middle of it all):
Our Jewel (Allagante Fire Opal):	Our Honcho (Allagante Honcho), talking back to someone:
Claudia's lovely Meggie:	And, Jackie's sweet Kamiah:

I realize I didn't get any photos of Linda's Gambler and Chloe, I hope they don't feel left out when they read this!

ANOTHER Day in the Life of a Dogsitter

Saturday. All is going well.....the vision of a woman becoming slightly unhinged yesterday afternoon has apparently shocked the hounds into their best behavior. They let me sleep in until 7:30. No lakes of urine (or even small ponds) in Puppy Prison. No dead rodents on the porch. And, it is not raining. Maybe the dog gods are smiling upon me today.

This morning, at 11:00am I get to take the monster back to the vet for his health cert. I am looking forward to it about as much as you look forward to a high colonic. Not that I've ever had one but I've heard tales and they are not nice.

This time, I have a crate. Puppy did not eat much for breakfast. And, his little bowels should be empty after yesterday. I have a sixth sense to NOT take a shower beforehand, why jinx all that has gone well today?

I get the puppy in the crate, get the crate out the door with no Silkens escaping outside and get the crate in my vehicle all 20 minutes prior to the appointment time. In my car, and off we go. I offer up a small prayer of Thanks to the dog gods for being kind to me so far.

Before I get to the end of the eighth-mile long driveway, a familiar smell assaults my nostrils. Poo. At least it is contained in a crate this time. Windows all go down and I am not going to cancel the appointment, come hell or high water or any other fluids. By the time we get to the vet (about 5 miles away), I see the puppy vomiting in the crate in my rear view mirror. Lovely. But, it's all contained in the crate with the poor little puppy, not spread like a thick veneer all over the back of my vehicle. Poor little puppy.

The vet office parking lot is almost empty -- bonus! I get a parking spot right next to the front door, how often does that happen?! I go in, and there's no one waiting. Cool, I will get right in and out as fast as possible and get the puppy home and all of this over with quickly.

Then the receptionist gets this odd look on her face and says, "I am SOOOOOoooo sorry!" Oh God. She says, "The doctor called in sick today and I didn't know how to reach you. I wasn't sure if I called Karen's house if you'd get the message so I didn't call. You'll have to reschedule." Reality slips. I see the walls pulse in and out and I feel the earth move under my feet a little as the blood drains from my brain.

I get back home and as I enter the house, all the dogs maintain about a 3 foot radius around me and the crate. 36 sets of eyes look at me and they are all saying the same thing, 'Whoa Dude that's some gnarly shit!' I say back at them out loud, "You're telling ME."

Bathe puppy. Hose off blanket that was in the crate. Hose out crate. Put clothes in to wash. Now I can take a shower, put on clean clothes, then I am going to Olive Garden to meet my sis-in-law and have lunch and some vino. No dogs allowed for at least a few hours.

Oh, back to the health cert and third vet appointment. Paul & Karen return Monday night at 8:30pm. Is the vet open late in the evenings, I asked? Is it remotely possible that the monster could get in on Tuesday, after Karen gets off work and I would be off the hook? Oh no, that would be too easy. The latest appointment they take is 4:30pm. So, what do I do, you ask?

I scheduled the monster for Monday and made a huge mental note to remember this experience forever and get even, like any good true friend would.

Just a Day in the Life of a Dogsitter

Friday. My favorite day of the week. Usually, on Fridays I can crank out my work in a few hours and then have the rest of the day to get caught up on non-work stuff that needs to be done. On normal days that is, apparently not when I am house and dog-sitting.

As I walked out into the living room first thing this morning to let 18 adult dogs out to do their business, I passed Puppy Prison. Puppy Prison (as I've come to call it in my mind) is about 10' x 12', and in most homes it's known as the Dining Room. Here, it's the dining room sans furniture, surrounded by x-pens with comfy beds inside, water, dog toys, food bowls, puppy pads and two monsters cleverly disguised as adorable, sweet, fluffy, white, Silken Windhound puppies.

First thing I notice, is that rather than use the puppy pads for their intended purpose, the two monsters decided it was by far more entertaining to shred them into 15,000 pieces and play in it until the fluff was everywhere. Then, pee a medium sized lake in the middle of their area and drop some poo. Both of which, was then tracked all throughout their area. SIGH.

I walk past the Prison, to the front door, to let the adult Silkens outside. As 18 dogs are streaming by me, I notice a dead rodent on the porch left from one of them in the dark the night before. By the time I shut the door (it's cold outside), get something to pick it up and dispose of it with, it's gone. A tasty morning appetizer for someone, no doubt. Yum.

I go back to Puppy Prison to grant the monsters parole by putting them outside in their (separate from the other dogs) area while I clean up the mess. As soon as I pick up one of the pups, he pees and wets my shoes, down the leg of my pants, and leaves a river all the way to the doggy door. I get them outside, wipe up the river, and go back to cleaning the first thing I noticed -- the mess in the puppy pen, which takes about 45 minutes.

After cleaning the Prison, mixing dog food for 20 and feeding everyone (including horses and llamas and koi), I put my clothes in the washer to wash and disinfect and go take a hot shower. Puppies are now safely back in prison for the interim so I shouldn't have messes around the house. By this time I am thinking I need a glass of wine.

One of the little monsters needs to visit the vet today and get a health certificate since he's going to his new home soon. After showering, while my clean clothes are drying, I put a new collar on the pup and locate a leash. I make a half hearted attempt to find a crate, but figure that the vet is only a couple miles away, IT WILL BE OK. After all, the monster has been for car rides before!

After I get dressed in my clean clothes, clean up lake #2 of the day in the Puppy Prison (thankfully no shredded pads at the moment, but can we pee anywhere near one??? Hell NO). I scoop up the pup who is going for a ride on one arm and my checkbook, wallet, keys and notebook (with health cert info) in the other. I attempt to head out the door and keep 18 dogs at bay. Only 6 squeak by me as I get out. I realize as I shut the door in the face of 12 silkens that I forgot the address to the vet on the kitchen counter, but I feel pretty confident that there can only be one vet on Sunnyside Road in rural Damascas Oregon.

I get out the yard and am able to keep the 6 Silkens inside the gate, but by now the puppy is NOT happy, so I set him on the ground while I latch the gate behind me. Puppy freaks out, what is this rope around my neck? Why can't I run down the driveway as fast as possible -- far, far away from you mean evil woman making me wear a collar and leash, what is stopping me??

In the commotion of trying to calm the puppy down, I drop everything in my other arm. Checkbook falls to the ground, my wallet flies open and business cards/credit cards/papers go everywhere. Oh, and did I mention it's a total downpoor outside right now? I pick up puppy and put him in the back of my Forerunner, go back and pick up all my dropped things/papers. 10 minutes to get to the vet, into my car I go. We are off.

Half a mile down the road, I smell poo. Gads of it. I look over my shoulder and puppy is having issues.....liquid poo is everywhere. Puppy is laying in poo. Puppy is tracking poo all over back of my car. Puppy is coated in poo and crying. I make it to the vet and poor little puppy is not doing so well.

I leave the puppy in the car and run into the vet to apologize and ask, can I reschedule? Vet says, not if your puppy is vomiting blood you do not want to reschedule! (I think to myself, the other horsemen of the apocolypse have already visited me today why not that one?) My blank look prompted one of the techs to say, aren't you the one who called a few minutes ago about your dog vomiting blood? And I say, aren't you Sunnyside Vet Hospital? And they say NO....it's the next vet hospital down Sunnyside Road on your left. Back in my car I go.

Another half mile down the road, and now puppy is projectile vomiting. As I roll down all my windows as much as I dare to avoid my own nausea from the overwhelming smells in my vehicle, it starts to hail. Hail and rain pelts my face and arms as we head to Sunnyside Vet Hospital. Puppy now is wearing vomit and poo, and so is much of the back of my vehicle.

Fortunately the vet is very nice and lets me reschedule for 11am tomorrow. Also they loan me a crate, since by this time I am on the verge of tears. Okay, there were some tears but I blinked them all away before they spilled over. Back in my car I go.

Poor little puppy is now foaming at the mouth and terrified, we head fast for home. I get back to home base, and now I have to carry a poop/vomit covered puppy inside while keeping 6 Silkens from getting out the gate. So much for clean clothes just an hour ago.

As I get near the front door, the 6 hounds in the yard surround some treasure by the door. A dead rodent, but different from the one this morning. How do I know? This one has front legs AND a head. I do manage to get this one away from them and in the garbage before it, too, disappears.

I give the puppy a bath, blow dry him until dry and fluffy, then go out in the pouring down rain/hail with a hot soapy bucket and cleaning supplies. Haul out all the blankets/dog beds and spray off the vile nastiness with a hose, in the rain. Get all the puppy fluids cleaned out from between the folded down rear seats where it ran all they way down to the floorboards. Finally, my car smells like Green Apple Palmolive dish detergent. Get all the blankets in the washer. I am now not only covered myself with you know what, I am wet and cold from cleaning out my car in a downpoor.

Take a shower, again. Change my clothes, again. And, now I am having that much needed glass of wine that I first thought about before noon today, and it's only 6:30pm. Two Buck Chuck and I are going to become well acquainted.

Dare I venture what more can possibly happen today?

Update, 8:20pm. The demise of yet another puppy pad:

A Primo Bed

Today is day 7 of 10 days of house-sitting for Paul & Karen of Allagante Silkens on their 22 acres in Damascus, Oregon. Things are going well with 20 dogs (2 are mine), 2 horses, 2 llamas, a couple of cats and koi to care for. This is the view from the front of the house and out the windows. Beautiful, isn't it?


Earlier this week, I decided to strip the covers off of all the dog beds, wash and dry all to help out while I'm here. After re-stuffing one bed into a clean cover, I tossed it on top of a small table that Paul & Karen keep behind their couch until I could decide where to put it. I turned around a few seconds later to see that it was the primo bed for Jewel, my princess Silken:


Later in the day I noticed that my Silken Honcho, not to be outdone, also thought this was a primo bed. If it's good enough for Jewel then it's good enough for me:


Then, last night before bed, Sophie (Jewel's littermate who resides as Allagante) thought that if it was good enough for her sister and another dog, it's good enough for me, too:

The table bed is in high demand now. Whenever one dog gets down another takes his/her place.....Paul, Karen, guess it's here to stay.

Redemption and Serendipity

Puppies really are so very cute, lovable and adorable, you can't be upset with them for more than a few seconds. Truth is, immediately after I discovered that they destroyed my gorgeous expensive fabric, I realized it was my own fault for not paying attention to them and what they were doing. Oblivious is the word that comes to mind.....Silken puppies just want silken fabric to play with!

Meanwhile, since Sunday, I have been able to salvage my jacket, and it's DONE. I actually like it better with the print going more horizontal on the back rather than vertical...let's call it serendipity that it turned out so well. One of those happy little design accidents (thanks to some energetic puppies). Of course -- the lighting is horrible and it's really not shiny like the flash from my camera makes it look like in the photos below.

What do you think, will it look good when running a black and white Borzoi around the ring?:

Monster Puppies?

Okay, I am here in Oregon house-sitting for Paul & Karen while they're on the canine cruise.

Last night, I painstakingly cut out pattern pieces for a fitted / kimono-style collar-ed jacket from 3 yards of the most gorgeous Japanese sateen that I've had for years, waiting for the right project to come along. I bought it some years ago at $20 a yard, on sale. Pattern takes just over 2 yards, I have 3. Which is a good thing because my fabric is directional so I have to be careful how I cut everything out, and it used almost everything to cut it out.....it is (was) going to be stunning and something I was planning to take to Borzoi Nationals in 3 weeks to show in.

Tonight, I'm starting to sew pattern pieces together. All is going well! It's going to be beautiful! My heart sings!

Then, I can't find the center back section with two back side-panels sewn on. Did I leave it on the counter? Chair behind me? Kitchen island which is doubling as a cutting/prep area? Noooooo. (Where the hell is it??)

Then I spot a fluffy white Silken puppy curled up on the floor laying on something.....sleeping.....GASP!! it's my back pieces!! Wet from puppy slobber and riddled with puppy puncture wounds from the monsters playing with it!!! It CANNOT be salvaged!!!

Oh, the agony!!!

Now I am making some serious pattern modifications to Make It Work (Project Runway here I come)....don't know if it's going to turn out or not..all may be for naught.....and I don't have enough fabric to follow the same direction on the back as the front/sleeves/sides and will definitely have to shorten it by at least 2", I am in unknown territory here, it could be just awful.

Monster puppies, I tell you. Nevermind that I was lost in my project as the hellions must have played tug of war right under my feet.

The Monsters (scary, aren't they?)
The Damage....imagine more holes like these than you can count:

Word of the Day.....Lachanophobia

Our hounds currently are fed twice a day a basic mix of 2 parts quality dry kibble (Solid Gold brand at the moment), 1 part whole chickens that are cooked for 24-36 hours that are mashed up (bones and all), and 1 part vegetable mix of peas, carrots, corn, green and Lima beans. Sometimes we add or substitute eggs or other proteins, and other fruits or vegetables.
Our Silken Windhound Jewel is a confirmed Lachanophobiac.......Lachanophobia is "a persistent, abnormal, and unwarranted fear of vegetables". Jewel is especially fearful of GREEN vegetables. The actual phobia manifests itself in different ways. Some sufferers experience it almost all the time, others just in response to direct stimuli. Everyone has their own unique formula for when and how to feel bad. Jewel's feelings are evident when you place her bowl in front of her and she glares up at you with her "What's this green s**t again??!!" look. It so happens it's the same look we get when a bath is about to take place.

Here's Jewel's normal meal, note the brightly colored and tasty selection of vegetables:

Here's what Jewel leaves behind: every piece of Green sucked and licked clean:

To add insult to an already distressing condition, most lachanophobia therapies take months or years, and sometimes even require the patient to be exposed repeatedly to their fear. Twice a day, poor Jewel must confront her fear of green vegetables......we hope she can be cured.

Power Trip - the Doggy Door

About a week ago Rich installed a fancy high end in-the-wall doggy door so the hounds could come and go at their leisure to the back yard. This was fantastic, I thought, because I am not interested in making a career out of being Doogy Doorlady, which seemed to be rapidly becoming my full time job now that the weather has turned cold and the people door is shut all the time.

The Fantastic Doggy Door is not without challenges, however......

#1. Rowan gets on a power trip when the five other hounds are outside and she's not. She lies just inside the doggy door and, God Help!! -- the dog on the outside who wants to come inside. She thoroughly enjoys the power trip of being In Control of the door, and no one is allowed to enter while she is exercising her right as the supreme redhaired bitch of the home. It's the closest thing to a smile on her face that you can imagine.

#2. Jewel refuses to acknowledge that she can exit through the door herself if I'm anywhere to be seen. After all, I live to serve her, and serve I shall......she whines, barks and does everything in her power to get me over to the people door to open it (even though the doggy door is less than 12" to the side of it) rather than just go out her own door. If I refuse, she refuses to go out, and 15 minutes later the Princess routine to get the people door open for her starts again. Sometimes I just give in to her demands to shut her up which I know just perpetuates the cycle. I am well trained am I not?

#3. Rowan, unlike Jewel, flat refuses to go out the door. Although she is a tad too small, she can fit but simply refuses to do so.

#4. With a doggy door, the dogs have more access to the outside to go bark bark bark whenever they feel like it, unlike before, when I could choose to just not let them outside when a barking opportunity presented itself (squirrel, crows, UPS trucks coming up the road, etc.)

I'm not sure that the Doggy Door has resulted in any less energy expenditure on my part. With having to still let Rowan in and out, get up to move her physically from the door so the other dogs can enter, and getting up to call them inside after barking adventures, it's about dead even for me so far.

Beaglefest

Yesterday, we attended Howloween Beaglefest, an annual event put on by the volunteers of the Seattle Beagle Rescue. The event raised almost $550 to go to helping homeless Beagles in the Northwest be placed in loving forever homes.

Loren Johnson with Top Dog Pet Photography, a professional pet photographer, was on site taking Holiday photos of people and/or their hounds, so we dressed ourselves up in our Christmas finery and brought all six canines along for the event. It really is a miracle when you can suck it all up into a tight space and look (more or less directly) at the camera, sit or stand pretty for precisely 1/1000th of a second -- no licking, coughing, hacking, giving dirty looks at your neighbor because they shouldn't be that close, and why is their nose THERE?? And, what is it DOING??? Oh, and that was just the humans. Here's our photo:



Beagles are very different creatures from sighthounds. They can be incredibly LOUD for one thing. Our four sighthounds did not quite know what to think of so many beagles in once place (even though they live with two of them), and they don't understand their form of play (what, no one wants to be the rabbit??). As the afternoon went by we could allow Rowan off leash with them in the enclosed area for short periods, but Catherine could only think about how much fun they would all be to chase, and therefore remained tethered to us or took a nap in the car the whole time.

To see a video on YouTube of Beaglefest, Click here.

All in all it was a great day with all of our hounds. Honcho and Jewel were great ambassadors for the Silken breed, making friends with everyone and anyone who had a treat and a pet or two or forty. The Borzois were regal and happy just hanging out with us all day, and the Beagles thoroughly enjoyed their event - sniffing and exploring the grounds, especially hanging out in close proximity to the treat tables for potential droppings. After all, one just never knows what manna may fall from heaven if you watch (sniff) out for it.

AKC Show Success - Catherine takes RWB

A couple of years ago, when we purchased our first Silken Windhound Honcho, we were introduced to the wide world of dog showing. Silken Windhounds are a rare breed that are not yet recognized by the American Kennel Club (AKC), and are not shown in AKC venues. These rare breed show venues are usually rather informal, relaxed and quite sociable events. There are also as many as six separate shows in a single weekend. We've known dogs in these venues to start their show career and finish as a Champion the same weekend, if not the same day. True story!

It's with this short history of relative dog show success that we forayed into the world of AKC dog shows this year when we began showing our two new Borzoi girls, Rowan and Catherine. What a world of difference! Showing dogs in AKC is the hardest thing I have ever attempted to do. Which, makes any success that we achieve just that much sweeter. As new handlers, we are learning as we go also.

Today, we drove over 150 miles one way to show in the AKC all breed show in Ridgefield, Washington. Although it was a practice day for Rowan, Catherine at 1 year + 4 days of age and her fifth AKC show, took Reserve Winners Bitch with five bitch entries. We are very proud of her as she calmed down significantly (no bouncing, skipping and kissing Mom in the show ring TODAY...) and she moved smoothly and effortlessly.

Although we didn't earn any points toward either of the borzoi's championships, we are thrilled with Catie's first AKC Reserve Winners Bitch (where there was more than one other entry) and are looking forward to the next show in November.